Latest WRX STI eschews its rally car roots for racetrack bona fides, but make sure you're in the driver's seat

By David Booth

Originally published: February 17, 2014

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Here’s everything bad you need to know about the STI version of Subaru‘s new 2015 WRX: You really don’t want to be in the passenger seat.

Oh, from behind the steering wheel, the latest STI will, as marketers do so like to proclaim, “surprise and delight.” But, if you’re riding shotgun, you’re sure-as-shootin’ gonna get tossed about. Fillings will be loosened, sphincters will be tightened and, if you’re particularly queasy, lunches tossed. Think of it as a roller coaster you didn’t volunteer for, a Perfect Storm like tossing on the high or the worst turbulence you ever suffered in a 747. Passengers, probably not the prime purchaser of the STI and its serious-as-a-heart-attack suspension, will almost assuredly find the 2015 STI a performance upgrade too far and offer to hitch a ride with the next bus that comes along. Or, if you’re on a particularly bumpy stretch of California tarmac, get out and walk.

If you’re behind the wheel, though, you’re screaming inside your helmet (if you’re using the STI in its preferred environment, the racetrack) and/or grinning like an idiot. You’ll be waxing lyrical to the poor schmo in the passenger seat about razor-sharp steering, grip that rivals Krazy Glue and brakes that make anchor metaphors seem trite. The WRX legend is full of storied cars and legendary rides, but this new STI so completely eclipses previous versions — especially its surprisingly mediocre immediate predecessor — that the legend is about to enter a new chapter, one in which M3s and S4s are drawn into direct comparison.

For 2015, the WRX — or the STI version, at least — eschews its previous rally car roots for more racetrack directed bona fides. Oh, given the right gravel backroad and its Driver Controlled Center Differential managed 41-to-59 rearward torque bias will hang out the rear end nicely. But the soft-ish suspension compliance required for challenging hill and dale has given way to F1-like stiffness, an almost complete lack of body roll and 911-challenging limpet-like grip. Pikes Peak is out, the Nurburgring is in and don’t spare the horses, Nellie, Subaru is gunning for Porsche and BMW.

The 2015 STI’s spec guide reads like a how-to guide for hot-rod production cars for SCCA racing. In increasing sway bar diameter from 21 millimetres to 24 mm, for instance, Subaru has increased torsion bar stiffness by 125 per cent. The shocks themselves are 22 per cent stiffer and the steering ratio reduced from an already-sporty 15.0:1 to a racetrack-ready 13.0:1. Even the bushings that hold the gearbox to the chassis, usually a small detail in even the sportiest of street cars, have been stiffened by 400 percent. High-strength steel is now used throughout the WRX’s framework. Overall, Subaru claims the chassis has been strengthened by 30 per cent in bending and the suspension’s resistance to roll by 24 per cent. Suffice it to say that the STI feels “planted.”

The 2015 Subaru WRX STI.Handout, Subaru

The result is a feeling of oneness seldom found behind the steering wheel of cars (especially at this price of $37,995), even sports cars. Connectivity is the industry’s buzzword right now, sprinkled liberally through marketing bumf as the auto industry struggles to appeal to the young and high-tech. But in a car — especially a sporting automobile — there’s a far more important connection, one that connects man and machine in a much more visceral manner. It’s the feeling that comes back through the steering wheel telling you that, no matter how tight that decreasing radius hairpin, the STI’s razor-sharp steering will get you to the apex.

It’s believing that, no matter how hard you toss the bright blue little Sube in Laguna Seca’s “gravity cavity” Turn Six, all that incredible traction (0.98g’s of lateral grip compared with the 2014’s 0.92) will see you rocketing out the other end. And, as you’ll read in the accompanying description of a lap of the famed California racetrack in the STI, it’s the incredible stability of being able to turn, brake and downshift going over Laguna’s diabolically fast Turn 1 that makes an occasionally punishing ride worth every bit of its lumbar-challenging ride.

As much as the new STI is now a certifiable track weapon (and, know this, if you’re not planning on taking the Subie to the track, you’re probably better off in the less frenetic, everyday WRX), certain civilities have been improved. For one thing, the engine, largely unchanged (it’s still rated at 305 horses and 290 pound-feet of torque), seems smoother in the latest model’s enhanced framework. The thrumming, usually part and parcel of Subaru’s 2.5-litre horizontally opposed four-cylinder, is much reduced. Oh, the breathed-on boxer motor’s off-beat, staccato exhaust note is still there but much of rest of the engine’s unpleasant noise, vibration and harshness is gone. Dare I say it, the new Subie almost feels sophisticated.

The 2015 Subaru WRX STI.Handout, Subaru

Ditto for the 2015’s interior décor, which lets be honest here, was an area in which the previous generation STI seriously let down the side. New, soft-touch materials, better quality seats and an interior that would not be completely out-of-place in a BMW have really moved the STI up a notch. An LCD screen, which on most cars would sport the navigation display, has a huge digital boost gauge built in so that you can quantify the fun you’re having. The audio system, a 440-watt Harman/Kardon affair with nine speakers, can be heard over the din of the motor. And, what’s this? A gauge set that doesn’t look like it was purloined from a mid-’80s Dodge Omni? Will the miracles never cease?

The one area where the new WRX still requires updating, however, is the transmission, the WRX still only offering a six-speed manual gearbox. Traditionalists will, of course, wax lyrical about the whole man/machine interface thing, deriding those looking for more modern gear-selection mechanisms as either effeminate or not sufficiently dedicated to sports car purity.

It doesn’t change the fact that the STI would be better served with a slick-shifting, paddle-operated dual-clutch manumatic. More importantly, it deserves it. The 2015 STI is one of the most willing of partners in four-wheeled crime, its handling and speed almost mandating that it should have the very best of sports car technology. There is nothing else on the market this cheap that goes this fast with this much control. Just make sure you’re driving alone.